Turn with me to 2 Peter 2. Lord willing, Sunday morning
we'll look at Genesis 4 and continue again
in Matthew 5. 2 Peter 2. Read with me verses
4 through 2 Peter 2, 4-9, if God spared not
the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered
them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment,
and spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person,
preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of
the ungodly, turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes,
condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those
that after should live ungodly, and delivered just lot, vexed
with the filthy conversation of the wicked. For that righteous
man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous
soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. Now read verse
7 and verse 9 together, because that's a parenthesis in verse
8. He delivered just lot, vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked. The Lord knoweth how to deliver
the godless out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto
the day of judgment to be punished. These verses came to my mind. I guess four or five days ago
during our recent travel sojourning, I had a message. It might be
sojourning in Sodom or deliverance from Sodom. And sometimes you
need to venture outside of our four walls to see and to learn
some things or at least remember what it's like out there. And
Scripture says we need to be reminded so much more as we see
the day approaching. And there are several things.
Spurgeon used to say all the world is a sermon. We need to
learn wherever we go and whatever we experience, something from
God's Word should come to mind. And this did. These verses came
to mind. Lot was vexed with what he saw
and how the Lord delivers His people. I'm glad the Lord knows
how to deliver. But there are many things that
I learned. And as I said before, one thing
is our great God has created a marvelous
world. If it wasn't sin, This place
is magnificent. It is magnificent. I thought
I had seen some beauty, and I have in our part of the country, but I kept singing this hymn the
whole time. Oh Lord, my God, when I in awesome
wonder consider all the worlds Thy hands have made. The heavens
just flying in the airplane. clouds, the dust of his feet,
and the firmament showeth his handiwork. It was marvelous. Traveling through the Pacific
Coast, I was in awesome wonder. Awesome wonder as I beheld God's
glorious creation, lofty mountain grandeur. I've never seen anything
like it. Brother Bell, Don Bell, we talked
on the phone when I was standing in the middle of that redwood
forest looking at those 150 foot high trees, 20 feet across. We were talking.
He said, you can worship in those trees. I said, you're right. We don't worship the trees. But
you can just marvel at God's creation. And I did. Then I thought
about how sin has marred this place, what sin has done to this
world. And if it wasn't for man, it
would still be a beautiful place. But now, as the Scripture said,
the whole creation groaneth, travaileth together in pain. You leave God's beautiful creation,
and we did. And that was man's home. We just
looked at that. God put Adam and Eve in a garden. The sky was their ceiling. The grass was their carpet. The
trees were their canopy. Our father Adam, that was his
first environment. It was glorious. God said it
was good. But then when sin came in and you get out of that God's
creation. You enter into the places where
man now lives. The cities. And you know what God says about
it all? He calls it this present evil
world. Corrupt through and through.
Man has corrupted God's planet. And man himself has become filthy. That's what the scriptures said.
And we beheld that in a broader sense. It's everywhere. It's
everywhere, even in our little community. But it's more widespread. You see it more openly, brazenly,
flaunted in these big cities. And as I said, these scriptures
kept coming to my mind. The lot was vexed. Vexed was
what he saw. Man has ruined himself and ruined
God's world until he now calls it this present evil world. You
dealt with Galatians 1 recently. How he said that Christ came
down to deliver his people from this present evil world. And
he knows. The Lord knows how. I'm so glad. I'm so thankful for it. We're
going to see in a moment If he didn't, we'd perish with it.
We'd perish in it. Now, we're surely in the last
days. We're surely in the last days.
Brother Roy, one of the first things he said to me after he
greeted me, and by the way, some of you greeted me and told me
how much you missed me, and I believe you meant it. That's humbling.
Very humbling. But anyway, Brother Roy said
something to the effect that he was vexed with what all was
going on around him. He said, surely it must be close
to the end. Isn't that what you told me,
Brother Roy, the first time? And I said, I'm glad you said
that because that's what we're going to consider tonight. It
surely must be the end, the very last of the last days. And I
know that every preceding generation has said that. I know that they
said that at different times in the past when various things
have taken place, world wars and all, people have thought
this is it. As times got bad, more and more
corrupt, they thought this is it. Nearly every generation did,
the dark ages and so forth. What makes me think that it's
the very last of the last. Well, go with me to Matthew 24. Matthew 24, where our Lord was
asked by the disciples about His coming, when He would come. And the Lord dealt here in Matthew
24 with not only what would happen to Israel, Jerusalem, destruction,
in the first several decades after he left. And he dealt with
that. But he also was talking about
when he would actually come back to this earth. And he said this in Matthew 24,
verse 37. He said, As the days of Noah
were, So shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be in the days of Noah. Let me just read to you
what the Lord said about the days of Noah. God saw that the
wickedness, not only were there giants in the earth, men were
very accomplished in all types of arts and crafts and sciences
and so forth. a thoroughly modern world at
that time. And it says, God saw the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, so much so that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, continual, every
day. And the Lord said He looked down
and the earth was corrupt, the whole earth. In other words,
it was overspread completely. And Matthew Henry, one time I
read where he thought there were several billion people on the
planet at that time. The whole earth was filled with
violence. Violence is what marked it. Corrupt. He said all flesh,
every tribe, every kindred, every nation had corrupted his way. So when the world was completely
covered with corruption, God said, that's it. And our Lord
said, now is in the days of Noah. And then here in Matthew 24,
look at verse 11. He said, many false prophets
shall rise and shall deceive many. There's never been a day
with more false religion, false prophets than that. There have
been false prophets. John said, remember when John
said, even now there are many anti-Christ, but our Lord said
in the last day, many. When the Lord says many, that's
a lot. Many false prophets. Many. Daniel wrote, or the Lord
told Daniel to write, of the overspreading of abominations.
How the whole world is covered with abominable Babylonian religion. That's the way it is. That's
the way it is. You have to drive a long way
to find the gospel. It's in very few places. Live
here a little, there a little. A handful of people in a house
or in a little storefront or wherever. That's a fact. I remember
years ago, not too many years ago, Bill Clark. I asked him,
and he's traveled all over the world. All over the world. And they were meeting at that
time outside of London, England, a little small group, a handful
of people. I said, Bill, is there not a
Grace Church anywhere in London, England? London, England? That
you know of? Ten million people or so? Seventeen
million. He said, no, not one I know of.
That's amazing. That's the way it is. In the
very last days, our Lord said in verse 12, iniquity shall abound. The love of many shall wax cold.
Verse 14, this gospel of the kingdom, this true gospel, truth,
shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all
nations, our Lord said, all the world. And then the end shall
come. And because of modern technology
and modern means, the gospel has been preached everywhere
now. There are people listening to
the gospel. You see it posted on Sermon Audio. Every nation you can think of.
And our Lord said then. So His coming is near. Of that
it is certain. And you can read the sign. And
then I thought of this. Here's something that I thought
of. It was surely in the last days. And then I thought about
how dangerous this world is. This world is a dangerous place.
God of this world paints this world in a beautiful light. God,
this world is crafty, and He tempted the
Lord Jesus Christ with this world. That's how He tried to tempt
the very Son of God with this world. Look at this. And it is
something. Man, by God's grace, has accomplished
and so forth. And there's still much in this
world. Here's what's frightening. And
here's what makes it dangerous. There's still much in this world
to appeal to our flesh. There are things and there are
people. And if you don't admit that,
you either must be real close to going home or you're lying. Because this world, we've still
got this old man in us that appeals, that this world and much of it
appeals to the flesh, doesn't it? Vanity fair. That's what
John Bunyan wrote of, didn't he? The pilgrim and his companion,
the evangelist warned them of vanity fair. The preacher said,
vanity of vanities. Don't stop there. Pass through. But they fell asleep
in vanity. And that's when they entered
up in Doubting Castle and all that. Just a mess. And we will,
too, if God doesn't know how to deliver us. The Lord doesn't
deliver us. Satan has most people in this
world captive to this world. I tell men that all the time.
We go places and see all this stuff and people running here
and there. People don't leave God, don't have time for Him.
There's too much to do. Too much to see. Isn't that right? Scurrying around. So busy. Things
to do. Places to go. But there is a
remnant. This came to mind when I met
with that little group there in Corsico. There is a remnant. according to the election of
Christ. Thank God. Oh, how blessed is the woman
whom God has chosen and caused to approach unto thee, that has
escaped, the one who has escaped, escaped the world and the corruption
therein. That's what Peter wrote up. A blessed people. God bless if
we've escaped. Do you know how many times it
talks about a remnant that's escaped in the Scriptures? I
looked it up. You can't believe how many times it talks about
escape. Escape. Those that are clean
escapes. He said there in Isaiah 1, Except
the Lord hath left us a remnant, we should have been as Sodom
and Gomorrah, all of them. And you. They were dead and trespassed
as sin and walked according to the course of this world. Children
of wrath, even as others. And you. But God. But God. Which brings me to the
lock. This brings me to our text, okay?
Look here at 2 Peter 2. And he said that God delivered,
verse 7, delivered just Lot, vexed with a conversation, a
filthy conversation of the wicked, that righteous man dwelling among
the Sidonites and seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous
soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. He delivered
just Lot, that righteous man. Now, God said that Lot was a
just man, didn't He? A righteous man. And maybe if
you had only read the account in Genesis 19. Go there. Go back
to Genesis 19. Let's look at that. Maybe if
you'd only read this account and hadn't read what Peter wrote,
you might not think that Lot was. Would you? You might not
think so. But God said so. God said he
was a just man. God said he was a righteous man.
He delivered him, that just and righteous man. And he goes on
to say, the Lord knoweth how to deliver them that are righteous. He knows how to deliver the godly. You may not think of yourself
as godly or righteous. We're going to see what that
means. The Lord called Lot just and righteous. Do you know why
Lot is just and righteous? Because the Lord said so, that's
why. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It
is God that justifies. Right? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is
Christ that dies. God said that Lot was just, and
that made him just, didn't it? Justified freely by his grace. This is what Lot said. I found
great. He lived right in that wicked
world, didn't he? Why did Noah escape? Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. Lot was called just by God and
that made him just. And he was righteous. Has anybody
made righteous? We've got to say this. We've
got to say this. Although we risk sounding like
we're repeating ourselves. But we're made righteous by the
Lord Jesus Christ. There's none righteous. No, not
one. But Christ has made unto us righteousness. He is our righteousness. He is our righteousness. By His
righteousness, we are made righteous. By Jesus Christ. His righteousness
imputed to us. His blood to justify. It's the
same with all. There's no mention of blood here,
is there? And if you've read the story. No mention of blood.
Neither is there in the book of Jonah. Blood's not mentioned. Redemption
is not mentioned. But that's what the Lord used
to say this is what represented Christ and Him crucified. Gentlemen,
well, we know that all of God's people are made righteous by
Christ, and it's His blood that justifies us. We know that. Who
knows that? All of God's people know that.
They'll all be taught of God. So Lot was called just by God,
and he was called righteous. And here's how you know. Here's
how you know he's one of God's own. Look at Genesis 19 now,
and here's how we'll know that we're one of God's and that we're
just and righteous. It's not what Lot did, it's what
the Lord did for him. This is how you know Lot was
just and righteous by what the Lord did for Lot, okay? Verse 1, there came two angels
to Sodom at even. Sodom was a big town. I don't
know how many people. Maybe close to a million. Maybe
more. I don't know. Big town. Big city. Much like
the one I was just in, San Francisco. Big city. All right? And two
angels were sent by God. on purpose, to this city. I thought about David and said,
what is man that thou art mindful of him? God's going to destroy
this place. Why would He send these angels? He's going to destroy
it. He couldn't find ten righteous
in that city. But He did find one. He did find
one. And it was Lot. And the Lord
sent two angels. How you know Lot was just and
righteous and one of God's own is God sent two angels on a mission
of mercy to Lot. To Lot. Maybe the rest of, maybe,
well, the Sodomites did see them coming. And you know what happened. But God sent those men to, and
they were men. Lot didn't know they were angels.
No, no. He thought they were men. But
he knew that God had sent, he knew they were, Men sent by God
on a mission, and they had the appearance of men. God called
them angels, and they were angels of His mercy, and the Lord sent
them to Lot. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Well, how are they going to call
on Him whom they've not believed? How are they going to believe
in Him whom they've not heard? How are they going to hear without
a preacher? And how shall he preach the truth? Except he be
sent. Beautiful are the feet of them
that bring this glad tiding. Lot saw them coming. And they
were such a good sight, a sight for sore eyes. That's what Jeanette
said about me. Well, they were a sight for his
sore eyes. His eyes that were sore vexed. with all around him, with everyone
around him. And he saw these angels of mercy coming to him,
and it says he fell down. He was so happy to see them.
He went on to say that he begged them, he pressed upon them to
say, I pray you. And he fixed them with all things,
unleavened bread and a feast. My, my. The Lord delivered Lot
by sending the truth to him, to warn him, to bring him out.
The Lord knows how to deliver. You know how He's going to deliver
us? The same way. The exact same way. The same
way. The Lord justly leads most people
to themselves. I told Mindy, we were someplace
in a vast crowd of people, and I said, I wonder how many people
In this place, no God. And here we are. That's something to think about,
isn't it? That will make you thank God
for sovereign electing grace, won't it? My, my. But the Lord knows how, and the
way that He knows how, the way He does it is He sends a preacher,
and the Lord sent lot, two preachers, and he's received them, and he
believed them. And the first thing he heard
from these men was what? About God's wrath. About God's
judgment. Isn't it? That's the first thing
he heard. And you're talking about a message
that's missing today. You're talking about an unpopular
one. Hated message. You're talking
about a rare message. God's wrath. Elijah said, where
is the God of judgment? Didn't he? Where is he? There are so many false prophets,
and none of them said anything about the judgment of God. But
that one man stood out. God's people hear that. Why?
Because of the fear. How many times do we say that? The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. And the Lord said, look at that,
look at verse 12 here in Genesis 19. The angels said, in verse
12, the men said, Lot, have you here any besides son-in-law and
our sons and daughters whatsoever thou hast? And he said, bring
them out of this place. Verse 13. We will destroy this
place. The cry of them is waxing great
before the face of the Lord. The Lord has sent us to destroy
it. Verse 17. Came to pass, they
brought them forth abroad. And the angel said, escape for
thy life. Look not behind thee. Don't stay
in the plain. Escape. Leave. Get out. Come out from among them. Escape. Verse 22, haste thee, escape
hither. I cannot do anything till thou
becometh escape. Escape. How do you know Lot was just
and righteous? He was warned to flee the wrath
to come. He was warned. And he believed
it. Noah found grace. What does it say? Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. And what does it say that Noah
did? Moved with fear and prepared an ark for the saving of his
house. Moved with fear. How do you know
Lot was just and righteous? Well, he was vexed with sin.
He was vexed with Sodom. Our text in 2 Peter says, that
righteous man vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their
unlawful deeds. Look at verse 1 again. It says,
Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. What was he doing sitting in
the gate? I know what he was doing. He was longing to get
out. He was longing to get out. I
love that hymn we sing on Jordan's stormy banks. It says, On Jordan's
stormy banks I sit and cast a wistful eye to Canaan's fair and happy
land where my possessions lie. A wishful eye or a longing eye. Lot sat in the gate. And I believe,
I'm quite sure he was, Lord, come get me out of this place.
Have you ever done that? Have you ever done that? Sure
you have. Vexed. He was vexed not only by everything
around him, but he was vexed with what was
within him. Why was Lot inside of him? He still had some Sodom
in him, didn't he? And it vexed him. It vexed him. You know, it's a good thing to
be vexed by sin. It's a wonderful thing. It's
a God-given gift. It means the Holy Spirit is still
working on you. If you're vexed by what's around
you, and especially by what's in you, that means you're being
led by the Holy Spirit who convicts of sin, righteousness, judgment. That's the leadership. He that
hath not the Spirit of God Christ is none of him. Those that are
led, there's therefore now no condemnation to them that are
in Christ who walk according to the Spirit. That is, led by
the Spirit. Vexed. Vexed. And I'm not so
sure that we're not more vexed by what's in us than what's around
us. Knowing, believing, we're no better. Right? It's only by the grace
of God. Know it. Aren't you glad the Lord knows
how to deliver? Vexed. Lot was vexed. But here, look
at this. How do you know he was a righteous
man? Look at verse 7. He called sin
what it was. He wasn't afraid to say so in
his generation. Verse 7 and 8. I say unto you,
Lot was talking to his neighbors, Sodomites. He said, I pray you,
brethren, do not so wickedly. You know what they were doing,
don't you? You know what they were doing. He said, now I have two daughters
which have not no man. Let me, I pray you, bring them
out unto you. Do unto them as good unto you.
Only these men do nothing. They came under the shadow of
my roof, and these men said, you stand back. You come here
to sojourn. You're not one of us. That's what they're saying. You're
just a visitor. You're not one of us. You're
going to be our judge? Who are you to say that what we're doing
is wrong? Who do you think you are? How do you know Lot was a just
and righteous man? Because he called sin what God
called it. Abomination. Wiccan. You know,
we have trouble talking to sinners. about sin because we feel so
much of it in ourselves, don't we? And we feel hypocritical,
don't we? But that doesn't change the fact.
It doesn't change the need to call it like it is, does it?
Who do you think feels more guilty than ever, more hypocritical
than anybody standing up here calling sin, sin than me? But
I've got to do it, don't you? I've got to do it. And the lot
did. He went to his son-in-law's and told them and it says he
seemed as one that mocked. Maybe they saw some inconsistencies
in him. Right? He was ashamed of that. But he hadn't tell them anyway.
I had to tell them anyway. Truth. Call it sin what it is. Sin. And you know, we talk to
people and we're vexed by what we see around us, but we really
don't feel like we're better than them, do we? No, that's
self-righteousness. That's self-righteousness. If
we get that way, and we're all guilty. It's a shame. We're all
guilty. But if we get that way, the Lord
will let us fall. And He'll show us what we are
when we get to looking down on our neighbors and fellow sinners.
He'll show us real quickly. And then we'll be real glad the
Lord knows how to deliver. But nevertheless, he called it
what it was. And it angered the Sodomites.
And Roy, I know that's what you were alluding to. Did you ever think you would
see what's going on now? Did you ever think you would
hear what's going on now? And it's the floodgate is about
to open, people. And people who just dare to say
what God says in His Word, we may enter a time where there's
some actual persecution for it. We may be upon that time. We've had, brethren, all our
brothers down through the thousands of years suffered persecution
for the truth's sake. They really did. And Hebrews
11 talks about it, the persecution they suffer just for declaring
what God says. And people said, You're not our
judge and we don't have a God. And they killed them. And we
just may be on the verge of actually experiencing some real persecution,
for the truth's sake. Let God be true. It might be the most blessed
thing that happened to the church. It might be. It always was. It
always was. It's given unto us, he said,
Peter I think said, not only to believe, but to suffer for
his name's sake. And Lot, they said, you're not
going to be our judge. Who are you to tell us what we're
doing is wrong? Well, how do we know that Lot
was just and righteous? He had a greater concern for
these men, Preachers of the truth. For the truth that they preach. The preciousness of what they
brought to Him and His own family. He was willing to sacrifice His
daughters rather than give up those men. That's where the rubber
meets the road. That's how you know. Except a
man forsake all that he has. Any man love father and mother,
son or daughter, husband or wife, More than me? Not worth it. And
Lot was willing to sacrifice. That's why that happened. We
wouldn't know Lot was a just man, but he said, here, take
my daughters, but don't take these men from me. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? What are we
willing to do to keep the truth? How do we know Lot was just and
right? He warned his family. Verse 14, we read that. He said,
get up, get out. The Lord's going to destroy this
place. They thought he seemed like one that mocked. And I thought
about this. And, you know, we don't always
speak when we should, and we're ashamed of it later on. We don't. We regret the times we didn't
speak. and could have. We regret that. But it's better
late than never. He did speak to them. He did
speak. He warned them. And you know,
the fact is, what we really believe in the heart is going to come
out with the mouth confessions made. It will. How do we know
Lot was just and righteous? Here's ultimately how we know.
Verse 16. It says, While Lot lingered, The man laid hold on him. They
laid hold upon his hand, upon the hand of his wife, upon the
hand of his two daughters, and the Lord being merciful unto
him, brought him forth and set him outside the city. How do
you know in the end, how do you really know Lot was because of
what Lot did? No. Here's how you know. See,
Lot did Lot did speak to his neighbors. Lot did warn his children. Lot did that. Lot did want to
sacrifice his family. But, it says, Lot lingered, didn't
he? When it was time to go, Lot...
And we've all accumulated a lot of things, haven't we? We have
family that we love. We have homes. Don't we? All of us. And if it's not actually the
time, if we thought we were going to go, we might not be ready.
One woman said to Spurgeon one time, she said, Brother Spurgeon,
I fear that I don't have dying grace. She says, sometimes I'm
so attached I fear I don't have dying grace. He said, well, are
you dying? She said, well, I don't think
so. And he said, you don't need it then, do you? But when it
comes, when the time comes, nothing. Nothing. Here's how you know, ultimately,
the Lord laid hold of you. How does the Lord lay hold of
us? The Lord actually grabbed Lot. And literally, as a brand
plucked from the burning, actually grabbed him and his daughters
and his wife and set them outside of the city. Sometimes I wish
the Lord would just do that to me. Just grab me. Just grab me. And set me out. He will sometime. But how does the Lord lay hold
of us now? Right here. When this gospel lays hold of
us. When the Word of God fixed our
heart. When God, as it were, lays hold
of our heart with this Word. Our mind gets our attention. Looks in our face like He did
Peter, with that direct look. What was I thinking? What was
I doing? By His grace, He's merciful. The Lord being merciful to Him.
See, it's of the Lord's mercies that we're not concerned, isn't
it? Because His compassions, they fail not. And they brought
Him out. They brought Him out. It's of
the Lord's mercy. Blessed fact. Here's a blessed
fact of the matter. Lot went to Sodom and the Lord
went after him. Here's salvation. Lot went to
Sodom. He left Abraham. Abraham ended
up in Bethel. Abraham. He should have stayed
there. He had too much stuff. You know
what caused strife between them all? Too much stuff. And Lot
said, I'm leaving. He said, look. Well-watered plain. He says, it looked like the Garden
of Eden. He said, that's where I'm going.
And he left Abraham. Left God. And ended up down there. Here's a blessed fact. Lot left
the Lord, but the Lord didn't leave Lot. He wouldn't leave
him alone. That's salvation. Lot left the
Lord, but the Lord went after him. The Lord didn't leave him.
Lot lingered, but the Lord laid hold of him. And if by God's grace and mercy
in Christ we end up in glory, every person in here is going
to say, with Lot, He loved me. He chose me. He found me. He rescued me. He redeemed me. He bought me.
He taught me. He brought me out of this world.
The reason I'm sitting here with Christ right now is because He
laid hold of me, being merciful unto me, and sent me out of Sinai. That's why. That's it. I hope. Paul, I bless you. Psalm 33. Oh, how blessed is the man whose
hope is in the Lord. The Lord taketh pleasure in them
that fear Him and in them that hope in His mercy. And he said,
O Lot, out of Sodom, and here is Lot's testimony. And this
is ours, isn't it? Verse 19. This is our testimony. Lot said, Behold, now thy servant
hath found grace in thy sight. You have magnified thy mercy.
Lord, you have showed unto me mercy in saving my life. Isn't that our testimony? Are
you saved? Why? Because the Lord had mercy
on me. I found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. Are you a child of God? I believe
so. Why? Because the Lord said, Believe. Believe. Because the Lord gave
me the gift of faith. Because the Lord came and revealed
Himself to me. Because the Lord found me. The Lord revealed Himself
to me. Taught me the gospel. The Lord warned me. The Lord
brought me out. That's why. Lessons learned. This world is a beautiful place,
but it's not our home. It's the Lord's creation. We
marvel over it, but it's not our home. And we look for a new
one wherein dwelleth righteousness and righteous people. And our
holy God and the Holy One of Israel with holy people. Does
that sound good to you? Kelly Andrews said something
profound not long ago. He said he had to, I think, take
some horses somewhere and deal with some people he didn't feel
like dealing with. He said, I just got back from
places I wish I hadn't been. And buddy, that's the way we
all feel in this place. We look for a place wherein dwelleth
righteousness, to dwell with our God. This world is a dangerous
place. Beware of it. Young people, beware.
A dangerous place. Young and old alike need to beware.
Come out. And he said there in that last
verse, but Lot's wife. Remember when our Lord said in
Matthew 24, one of the last things He said, remember Lot's wife. That's how dangerous it is. Lot's
wife, the Lord brought her out of Sodom. She was with a man
who loved and knew the Lord. She must have heard the warning.
She surely heard the warning that lot her. And yet, the Lord warns her,
don't look back. Don't look back. Like the Israelites,
don't long for Egypt. That's longing for. Not wanting
to leave. Lot lingered. I don't think he
looked back. But she did. It was in her heart. And the Lord said, Remember,
Lot's wife. Remember. Okay, stand with me. Our Lord and our God, we thank
You for Your Word. It is our salvation. of life, saving words. How we thank You, Lord, that
You warn and reprove and rebuke and comfort. We thank You, Lord,
that You have shown us Your holiness, Your justice, Your righteous
person, Your law even. We thank You. And Lord, we thank
You that You have shown us Christ our righteousness. That You've
shown us that He has made righteousness undone. We thank You that You've
shown us that His blood makes propitiation for our sins upon
the mercy seat. That You have been merciful to
us. So merciful. We've found grace
in the eyes of the Lord by being accepted in the beloved. And
You've been gracious to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. and brought
us out, put us in Christ our Savior for safekeeping, and continued
to bring this Gospel to us, the fear of the Lord and the mercy
of the Lord. We behold both the goodness and
the severity of the Lord in the Gospel, and we thank You for
it, Lord. We ask though that You would rest the heart and
mind of some others, our neighbors, in our children, loved ones,
Lord, that You would be pleased to show mercy. That You would
give us the grace and the courage, like Lot, to stand up and warn
them and declare unto them the truth and hope that You will
bring them out as You brought us out. Lord, give us that courage. And in this day of evil, perilous
times that we live in, Give us strength. Give us courage. Give
us strength that we stand fast, hold fast the words of faith,
the truth in this present evil world. Lord, save us and save
our children, we ask, for Christ's sake. Thank you for bringing
me home safely. Thank you for watching over your
people. We pray for our brother Darnell
and others, Lord, and bring them through these trials. It's in
Christ's name we pray and have met here tonight and give thanks. Amen. Oh my goodness.